Clark, Harriet - The Hill

Suzanna Klein was a baby when her mother got up early one morning to rob a bank with a group of fellow radicals. Now, Suzanna spends every Saturday visiting Hillcrest Prison, a place her mother will never leave. At home, Suzanna is raised by her grandmother, who is unforgiving of her daughter's crime and refuses to visit the prison. Surrounding Suzanna are her grandmother's friends, who know one another from their years in the Communist Party. These women once insisted on changing the world, but are now torn between teaching Suzanna how the world works and shielding her from it. Suzanna vows to return to the prison forever, but her mother wants her to be free. Told with irreverent wisdom and visionary force, The Hill is an incandescent novel of a child growing up between worlds, and of a family broken apart by the desire for change.